How+do+we+cultivate+a+community?

Trey-Badges for interaction frequency

Trey-Badges for "integrity" votes ("likes")

Shawntel- So, when I was evaluating what our users do and do not need/want, in my interviews with a few vets the following came up.... They will NOT respond to an environment that does not feel "authentic" (people slamming others, posting spam, being dishonest or just bragging and not listening-and this is where community curation intersects, right?). I have no answers to this yet but thought it would be a terrific discussion to start. How will be "curate" the community and guide the norms to fall within these?

Jonathan- As the community forms, cultivation efforts would need to be lead by a team of military and possibly civilian medical leaders with an understanding of issues facing combat veterans. Military personnel on the team should have combat experience of some sort. (At least having deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Whether they actually were engaged in combat with enemy forces is not that important) This leadership team will cultivate the community and ensure it is a safe,secure environment for veterans to share their stories. As the membership of the community builds leaders will "bubble" up. It will take behind the scenes effort from the leadership team to get people to step up. Background work like e-mailing members to let them know their contributions are important. It will also take background work to ensure the environment stays safe and secure for members to share their stories. That will including letting members that are generally abusive know via e-mail that their behavior is not acceptable an remind them of the purpose of the community. Over time, with proper cultivation efforts, the community will lead and regulate itself.